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Falling In Love with Green Beans ♥ Favorite Recipes

July 11, 2011

Every year, I seem to fall in love with a new vegetable. One year beets, another year corn. Then one year something hit me about green beans – and I haven't looked back since, collecting one new green bean recipe after another. Here are my favorite recipes. Perhaps this is your year to fall in love with green beans too?

FIRST, HOW TO TURN GREEN BEANS from GOOD to GREAT
Great beans may start with the beans – fresh, snappy, fragrant – but it takes two more things to draw out the most flavor. Once I learned these two "secret" ingredients, wow, there was no not falling in love with green beans.

WATER Cook green beans in what will seem like a lot of water – that means eight full cups for every pound of beans.

SALT What does "well-salted water" mean? Salt the water with a full tablespoon of table salt (or two tablespoons of kosher salt).

BUT AREN'T WE ALL SUPPOSED TO AVOID SALT? Yeah, yeah, I know, salt is supposed to be bad for us and we're told to avoid it. But that advice is directed at the "average" eater who often eats salt-laden processed food and fast food. When we cook at home, when we use whole ingredients, we leave room in our diets for salt – especially when it makes us go crazy for green beans! (More info: According to Salt-Reduction Efforts May Need Different Approach from the Wall Street Journal, 75% of our salt consumption comes from packaged food and restaurants.) FOR THE RECORD There's no saving woody green beans. When the fresh green beans are woody, go for frozen whole green beans. In fact, frozen green beans may well be 'fresher' than fresh green beans because beans lose sweetness very quickly, even in cold storage. (Believe it or not, I actually think that canned green beans have their place, they're the starting point for my Satisfying Lunch in One Point.)

WHY ARE GREEN BEANS CALLED 'STRING' BEANS? Only heirloom varieties of green beans still contain 'strings', long fibers that connected the two halves of the bean at the seams.

What Are Your Favorite Green Bean Recipes? There's a pile of garden green beans waiting on the counter -- and I'd love to find a new favorite recipe. How do you cook green beans? Leave a note in the comments! (Shy e-mail readers: Yes, that's you, right? Feel free to just hit 'reply' to your e-mail, I'll add the comment for you, using just your first name.)

SIMPLE-SIMPLE GREEN BEAN RECIPES

The best way to cook green beans, in my opinion, is in well-salted water. I love this simple treatment, just fresh green beans cooked in well-salted water and tossed with a little lemon and if you like, some pine nuts.

The mayo-soy sauce works beautifully with frozen green beans too. In fact, green beans are my my favorite frozen vegetable, the freezer is rarely without at least one or two bags. I even collect simple ways to "doctor" frozen green beans, see Quick Ways to Doctor a Bag of Green Beans.

WHAT A TREAT: ROMANO BEANS

Watch for "romano beans" at the farmers market! They are flat, more tender and slightly velvety. So good!

The real life-changer, however (for me, quite literally! someday I'll tell you that story ...) is what happens when you make the traditional green bean casserole with fresh green beans. That's when you create the ...

THANKS!

I hope this list of favorite green bean recipes is helpful. But if you still haven't found the one recipe you're looking for, yes, there are more! Don't forget to leave me your own favorite way to cook green beans!

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comments:

Anonymous
on
July 11, 2011

Pan/skillet fried are the way we eat them most often. Hot skillet, a bit of oil and stir now and again until done and a few flecks of browning. While beans are cooking, paste fresh garlic with some salt and add a bit of olive oil. Tip the cooked green beans into a bowl large enough to ensure they get evenly coated with the garlic/salt/olive oil. Her favorite way to eat them according to a 12 year old former, 'take 'em or leave 'em' kid. Yes, you may eat them with your fingers! Polly

I was always rather ho-hum about green beans until I started growing them and had to find ways to use them and then I realized how good they can be. Your recipe ideas look great!

Anonymous
on
July 11, 2011

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Once the onions are soft, add fresh washed green beans. Saute another minute. Then add fresh, chopped Roma tomatoes. Cover and cook over low heat until the beans are tender and the tomatoes have cooked down to a sauce. Add a pinch of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with a twist of salt and pepper and crumbled feta or Parmesan cheese and a hunk of crusty bread. This is a dish from Italy and will turn any green bean hater into a fan. Yummy!

Alanna, I just today picked enough beans for dinner - and so it begins! Tonight, I'm going to cook them simply in salted water, with maybe a bit of lemon, but I've bookmarked this post to come back to in, oh, about 2 days. :)

my recent favourite way of cooking green beans is just a quick saute with crushed red pepper, garlic and sesame seeds or almonds. Add a splash of soy sauce and just stir all this until bite tender. The beans should still be crunchy..

a slight variation on the above is using almonds and balsamic vinegar..

This is pretty guilt free and low carb..

thanks..

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna

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